Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey "Drake" Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian actor and recording artist. He originally became known for playing the character Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. As a rapper, he performs under the mononym Drake. Drake continued to recognize a close affiliation with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment, before officially signing with the record label in June 2009. His first studio album, Thank Me Later, was released on June 15, 2010. Early life Aubrey Drake Graham was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Dennis Graham, a drummer who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis; he is the nephew of musicians Larry Graham and Teenie Hodges. Graham's father is an African American from Memphis, Tennessee, while Aubrey's mother, an educator, is a white Jewish Canadian. His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother in Toronto's wealthy Forest Hill neighborhood, attending elementary school at Forest Hill Public School, and high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting, but did not graduate. He also spent many summers with his father in Memphis, Tennessee. Acting career In 2001, Graham began his acting career, playing the role of Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation . In the show, Brooks is a basketball star who became physically disabled from the waist down after he was shot by a classmate. His role on the show ended in 2009, when producers cut the entire Degrassi staff for a new group of actors. Music career Early beginnings (2006–08) In February 2006, Drake released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. From the success of his first mixtape, he later began releasing more, capitalizing from the buzz. In 2007, he released Comeback Season to much critical acclaim and praise. Which produced a single and a music video for Replacement Girl featuring Trey Songz. It also contained a freestyle over a song with Lil Wayne, a remix of the already popular song "Man of the Year" originally by Brisco and Flo-Rida. Also in 2007, Drake became the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first single, "Replacement Girl" was featured as the "New Joint of the Day" on April 30, 2007. In 2008, Lil Wayne was given some of Drake's music from Rap-A-Lot founder, J. Prince's son and he called Drake immediately to fly to Houston to come and tour with him. Drake and Wayne had recorded a couple of songs during the time including, 'Ransom', The original version of 'I Want This Forever' and the remix to Drake's song, 'Brand New'. Although after becoming apart of Lil Wayne's crew, Young Money, Drake was still not signed. So Far Gone and Thank Me Later (2009–present) On February 13, 2009, Drake released his third official mixtape, So Far Gone, for free download on his blog site which included Drake's mentor Lil Wayne, Bun B, Omarion, Lloyd and his friend, Trey Songz. It received over 2,000 downloads in the first 2 hours of release. It was extremely successful in the underground and eventually made its way to radio. Due to the success of the mixtape's two singles, "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful", it was released as an EP featuring only five songs from the mix tape and one new song. MTV named it, "The Hottest Mixtape of 2009 (So Far)'. Since So Far Gone, Drake worked with DJ Khaled, Young Money, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, Timbaland, Birdman, Trey Songz, and Jamie Foxx. Drake has also written for Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante, and Dr. Dre. He achieved success before signing to a major record label, according to his management Hip Hop Since 1978. In June 2009, it was revealed that an unauthorized album entitled The Girls Love Drake and credited to Drake was up for sale on iTunes. A lawsuit is planned against the label. On the Billboard Hot 100 chart of July 4, 2009, both "Best I Ever Had", and "Every Girl" by Young Money Entertainment entered the top ten at positions 3 and 10 respectively. Drake is only the second artist to have his first two top ten hits in the same week. The first was fellow Canadian Nelly Furtado who entered the top ten in 2001 with "I'm Like A Bird" the same week as Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On", a remix of which included a credited contribution from Furtado. On June 29, 2009 it was confirmed Drake signed a record deal with Young Money Entertainment. This followed what Billboard purported to be "one of the biggest bidding wars ever". He plans to release his official debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2009, and has confirmed collaborations with the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z, Danny! and Lil Wayne. Drake is currently touring with Wayne and other rap artists on the America's Most Wanted Tour. On July 31, 2009, Drake fell on stage and injured his knee while performing "Best I Ever Had", with Lil Wayne in Camden, New Jersey. He is able to walk, and had surgery on September 8, 2009. Personal life Drake is good friends with many of his Degrassi cast-mates, particularly Shane Kippel, who played his best friend Spinner Mason on the show. He is also still good friends with Stacey Farber, who played Elie. In 2008, Drake spoke about his past relationships on a song called "Deceiving" using each verse to address different women. In Verse 1, he spoke about video-girl Dia Edwards. In Verse 3, he spoke about classmate Alisha Phillips. He then spoke about his past relationship with Keshia Chanté on the Verse 2 of his song "Deceiving", referencing Chanté's mother, Tessa, stating "When I say I'm serious, you claim you're only teasing" and "What up Tessa? I love you like my own mama, and your daughter's getting grown, mama, and me, I'm just here working, waiting, patient for her to be ready for love and leave alone drama". In May 2009, Drake finally spoke with MuchMusic about his song "Deceiving" and addressed speculation of his past relationship with Chanté, "Would I call Keshia Chante an ex? I'd be proud to say she is an ex. I'm proud to say we had our time, when we were, like, 16 years old. She's great. She's one of the first people in the industry that I met, we just connected." In June 2009, Drake did two remixes to Chante's song "Fallen" where he addresses his love for her, on Version 1 he raps "Keshia, Keshia, do you remember the old us? They said we'd never be together that's what they told us. Immature kids, to entrepreneur kids." then on Version 2, he raps "you just hold it down for your boy until the plaques arrive, that's why I love you." MuchMusic later asked Chanté on how she felt about Drake. She kept mum, later saying, "I will love that man unconditionally for the rest of my life. He knows what it is. We have history. I've known him since I was a little girl. We just have a love/hate relationship, so I prefer to love him from afar." Online rumors swirled stating that Drake was in a relationship with Rihanna. Both parties denied that claim, with Drake stating "we're just good friends." Drake is a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats and a friend to head coach John Calipari. On October 16, 2009, Drake made an appearance at the University of Kentucky men's basketball event, "Big Blue Madness" at Rupp Arena. On January 2, 2009, Drake also attended Kentucky's game against the University of Louisville and accompanied Calipari to his post game radio show. Discography Filmography Awards and nominations *BET Hip Hop Awards **2009, Lyricist of the Year (Nominated) **2009, Track of the Year: "Every Girl" (Won) **2009, Rookie of the Year (Won) **2009, MVP of the Year (Nominated) **2009, Hustler of the Year (Nominated) *MOBO Awards **2009, Best Hip-Hop Act (Nominated) **2009, Best International Act (Nominated) *MTV Video Music Awards **2009, Best New Artist in a Video: "Best I Ever Had" (Nominated) *Soul Train Awards **2009, Best New Artist (Nominated) **2009, Record of the Year: "Best I Ever Had" (Nominated) **2009, Best Collaboration: "Successful" (Nominated) *Grammy Awards **2010, Best Rap Song: "Best I Ever Had" (Nominated) **2010, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Best I Ever Had" (Nominated) Gallery Drake miriam cassie.jpg Degrassi 0.jpg cassie and drake.jpg drake-10.jpg drake with some patron.jpg drake 2.jpg drake-picture.jpg drake-and-lebron-james.jpg DRAKE FRANCK.jpg aubrey and stacey.jpg tumblr_l96z8hCoJo1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_lb6ry4X3xX1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l9dcq96Ay21qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l9eyh52AMC1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l94kg5xtP61qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l94f3hMGZL1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l85c5eO9eb1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l7um7xvmTM1qdoiato1_400.png tumblr_l7hslca1uW1qdoiato1_400.jpg Tumblr l6g2aqMNfQ1qcplpwo1 500.jpg tumblr_l66wq1l5uM1qag0mio1_500.jpg|Drake and his grandmother. Tumblr lcl0jtsrVr1qc585qo1 500.jpg tumblr_l3h4tcTngZ1qc585qo1_400.jpg tumblr_lar5xoPLGS1qct0ifo1_400.jpg|Drizzy Rolls With Tha Crew! Tumblr lc3ouq3Tka1qaydlxo1 500.png Tumblr lbhqjuZ24d1qaydlxo1 1289093128 cover.png.jpg Tumblr lc25r9q22l1qaydlxo1 500.png Tumblr lf0u0f2PN91qcrxgmo1 500.jpg Tumblr l9hhmePeor1qbe37jo1 500.jpg Tumblr l9bwa2KzPE1qc0gaso1 500.png Tumblr l8uspezeAM1qclpsko1 500.jpg Tumblr l4wiaxphwT1qc0gaso1 500.jpg Tumblr l4ufwiJrGC1qc0gaso1 500.jpg Tumblr l4phvoqLoB1qagawvo1 400.jpg Tumblr l3xatoUSoq1qc0gaso1 500.jpg Tumblr l6yv3nXXWq1qc0gaso1 500.png Tumblr l7ioahqHeN1qb4zpko1 500.jpg Tumblr l6snh6FFvl1qctk8qo1 500.png.jpg Tumblr l0tz644Z1M1qzklxuo1 500.jpg Tumblr l0hdt1KWUA1qzlj5qo1 500.jpg Tumblr l13ozhMO8g1qagawvo1 400.jpg Tumblr l13plwL68f1qzxg3do1 500.png Tumblr kzedkd2bU71qa4be1o1 500.jpg Tumblr kzemc6AXuF1qzxg3do1 500.png Tumblr l02lxoQG0C1qa7k60o1 500.jpg Tumblr kzzorb5HEp1qb957wo1 500.png Tumblr l00xarNPmy1qaydlxo1 500.png Tumblr kuxiyrUOsm1qz97beo1 400.jpg Tumblr kuprkn6BUt1qaydlxo1 500.png Tumblr kxhjjoVnUP1qa96cxo1 500.jpg baby aubrey.jpg|Lil' Drake! drakebasketball.jpg Mikecast.jpg Securedownload3.jpg Tumblr_l7qw7fyWln1qdoiato1_400.jpg Bleh.jpg Kid_drake_reasonably_small.jpg Drake1.jpg Drake.jpg Ik.jpg Uu.jpg ImagesCA0W5JFY.jpg Drake-1.jpg Cxm.jpg Sagdfhghj_500.jpg Adamo_ruggiero_1210605492.jpg Adamo_ruggiero_1210605490.jpg Aubrey_'drake'_and_nicki_minaj.jpg Tumblr_l50y9kgaw91qc401u.jpg Drake-in-a-field-aubrey-drake-graham-6724085-500-333.jpg Tumblr_l50ybg63SJ1qc401u.jpg tumblr_lid5p9Vmhw1qc585qo1_400.jpg tumblr_lq9rehdsS11qh36u7o1_500.jpg imagesCAE413IK.jpg imagesCAKTDTDV.jpg imagesCA0TYG1I.jpg Aubrey_Drake_Graham.jpg imagess.jpg drake_001_080509.jpg july30_drake.jpg 104503-drake.jpg 5372538741_147f64fa0b.jpg Drake_300.jpg 051409-drake-1.jpg 112.jpg 115.jpg 113.jpg 111113.jpg 088.jpg 05c276786750626d73617e05306c23b3.jpg Tumblr lsxctqrBxq1qjd5u4o1 500.jpg tumblr_lt2xjgHXkG1qjd5u4o1_500.jpg Tumblr lnwc2hNdIg1qjd5u4o1 500.jpg tumblr_ltwj35HkYc1qjd5u4o1_500.jpg tumblr_lv8hb8WcZa1r4qw42o1_400.jpg tumblr_lv8e29DMDu1r1azb0o1_500.png tumblr_lv8gtvNrmf1r4w6two1_500.png tumblr_lv8h5p0JgG1r66241o1_500.jpg tumblr_lv8h2lCsUJ1r66241o1_250.jpg tumblr_lv8h4r4oEo1r66241o1_500.jpg tumblr_lv8fj4tLTF1r785gro1_500.jpg tumblr_lv8gn4Z4DU1qmbkb7o1_400.png tumblr_lv8f4d3BNg1qggeo7o1_500.jpg Tumblr lv8f4d3BNg1qggeo7o1 500.jpg tumblr_lv8iobOCZi1r75hayo1_500.jpg tumblr_lv8gvvU6xh1r75hayo1_400.jpg tumblr_lv8gwdbvWF1r66241o1_400.jpg tumblr_lv8h6ahRgn1r785gro1_500.jpg tumblr_lv87thLjw11qmc0mio1_500.jpg Category:Actors Category:Musician Category:Degrassi Cast